When you are not knowledgeable about painting processes or painting jobs, you might think that all kinds of painting are the same. This is a common misconception that can lead to people hiring the wrong kind of company for their painting needs. If you did not know that there are differences between residential and commercial painting, you are probably not alone. The process of painting a home and the work that goes into painting a commercial location are very different. These locations have unique needs and require that teams of painters have different tools on hand and sometimes also that they use different paint and products.
If you are ready to learn some more about the differences between residential and commercial painting, you need to read on!
Table of Contents
Differences Between Residential and Commercial Painting
1. Size of the Job
This is often the biggest difference between residential and commercial painting work. The commercial painting jobs that most people require are quite large. There might be a large number of buildings that need to be painted inside and out, and the buildings might be quite large or quite tall. This means that crews need access to specialized lifts and tools to reach all the places that need to be painted in these large buildings.
Residential painting jobs are usually much smaller jobs, but they will necessitate more handwork. This means that painting trim and corners of rooms will have to be done by hand. In Pittsburgh the Residential painters‘ team that will show up to paint a house will be smaller, and they will have more hand tools like small paint brushes with them.
2. Timeframes
Despite the size of the job at a commercial location, these places cannot afford to be shut down for long. This means that a commercial job will need to be completed within a few days. When painting a home, most painting companies work in stages and take on the various small details in an orderly fashion. Since the home will likely be lived in while it is painted, this can slow down the work some.
The timeframes of these two painting jobs can make it hard for a company to cover both kinds of work reliably. Companies that profess to do both kinds of jobs need to be able to show that they have separate crews that work on these two kinds of jobs. Most commercial painting jobs will run for many hours in a day and might even happen overnight. This means that crews cannot be expected to be at full staffing if some team members were working all night long painting a warehouse.
3. The Number of People on a Job
This was already touched on briefly, but the number of people on a job can vary depending on what kind of location needs to be painted. A commercial job will have more people on it due to the size of the buildings and the speed with which the job needs to be completed. If a large company needs their entire warehouse painted, this needs to be completed by the end of the weekend in most cases.
When considering residential jobs, a much smaller number of people will be needed. Many home spaces will not even have room for more than one painter to work in them at a time, and most houses are not so big that special equipment will be needed. Residential jobs are always crewed by a smaller number of painters with a much less advanced set of tools.
4. Paint Types
Residential paints are often more varied and might require different priming processes or different preparation processes to apply. In addition, these paints are almost always colorful, which means that some care and attention to detail are needed when applying this product. Colorful paint that has not been applied in a uniform way will look streaky, dull, or might even fail once the paint has cured.
Commercial painting is usually more limited with regard to color, and typically commercial locations require a lot of preparation work to remove dirt, grime, and build-up that might impede the curing process of applied paint. Industrial-grade paint is often quite easy to apply, but it might need to have significant priming and preparation work done before it is sprayed on.
5. Provided Services
There are often big differences in the services that commercial painting teams and residential painting teams will offer. Commercial teams will expect to provide sandblasting, epoxy painting, metalizing, and other kinds of specialty care when they are working on a job. Residential painters will know how to remove wallpaper, do plaster and drywall repairs, and do deck and fence staining jobs.
The services that a company provides will need to match your needs, and you should be sure that you look at the full list of services that a company offers before engaging them for your painting job. This is essential to make sure that you do not hire a company that will be unable to prep your home or business properly for the paint application work at the end of the job.
Residential and Commercial Painting Are Not Alike
There are many differences between commercial and residential painting jobs. This is why consumers need to be aware of the needs for these kinds of work before they start shopping for painting companies to hire. Hiring the right painter for your needs can make all the difference in the end result of your painting job. You should always be sure that you verify that a painting company has experience with the kind of job that you need to be completed.
When you take the time to ask the right questions and do the right research, it is easy to get the right painting company hired to paint your home or business. These kinds of jobs can be handled reliably and with ease by experienced painters who know the ropes. Knowing the difference between the needs for each job can make it much more likely that you will connect with the right painting company for your needs.
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